Control levers are commonly used on machines to provide an input by an operator to perform desired functions on the machine. Typically, movement of the control lever is in a fore and aft direction or possibly a side to side direction. These levers are normally spring biased to return to the neutral position when the operator releases the lever. It is desirable to keep the spring bias forces as low as possible in order to keep operator fatigue low. In many machines it is also desirable to provide a detent arrangement to hold the lever at any desired position. Many known detents are mechanical type detents that function to hold the lever in a single position. It is also known to use electrically actuated solenoids to provide a holding force to selectively hold the lever at any desired position. These have proven to be helpful but in some situations the holding force is not sufficient to hold the lever at the desired position when the machine is being subjected to rough terrain. The "jolting" of the machine may cause the lever to inadvertently or gradually move due to the machine's movement or due to the placement of the lever on the machine. Additionally, many times the operator may rest his hand on the lever while it is in the detented position and the weight of the operator's hand and/or the motion of the machine may cause the lever to inadvertently move. It is desirable to provide a high force detent mechanism that will more effectively hold an input lever in the desired detented position without incorporating bulky arrangements or increasing lever efforts. It is also desirable to provide such a high force detent mechanism that is usable in a joystick control.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.